Market Analysis: USA

Key points:

• 15 schools participated in the 2023 ST survey on the USA
• 17,224 total number of students at these schools in 2023
• 258,360 total number of student weeks at these schools in 2023
• 10% increase in total student numbers between 2022 and 2023

According to the latest figures from English USA and research partner Bonard, the post-Covid recovery rate for the USA’s English language teaching sector in 2023 was estimated to be at 69 per cent. This is the lowest recovery rate of all the major English language teaching destinations with the UK on 70 per cent and Canada on 80 per cent.

Adam Liss from Global Village Hawaii  says, “Our enrollments are still recovering as compared to pre-Covid. They are moving in the right direction but various factors are slowing the pace of the recovery.” He continues, “For some countries, the currency exchange rate has been an issue [e.g. Japan]. In general, the cost of living can also be an issue as students seek shorter enrollments and/or cheaper destinations.“

Francine Chemnick from the English Language Academy, University of San Diego reports that international enrolments on the university’s intensive English programme are also still down on pre-Covid numbers. “We have never reached pre-Covid numbers. We are still down 20 per cent,” she says. In common with many English language providers in the USA, Francine relates that pre-Covid, their largest student nationality was Chinese and this has yet to return to previous levels and she thinks visa issues may in part way explain this decline. “Students from China want to come but getting the F1 is still challenging,” she says. “As well as a few other countries such as Thailand, Laos, Cameroon, Mongolia, Djibouti, Yemen, Russia, Iraq, and Iran. Although we don’t have many students applying from these countries, we had a few individuals who applied but unfortunately, they were unable to obtain a visa.

Adam has also noticed problems with visas for some nationalities, although he explains that information regarding why visas get refused is limited. “There aren’t visa issues for most countries.  But, some countries [e.g. Vietnam] have been a challenge when it comes to Visa processing.  The reason for the Visa denials is a bit of a mystery as very little information is provided by the US government.”

In contrast Yves Paradis from OHLA Schools  says that their international student  numbers are exceeding pre-Covid levels. “Our three largest markets are – South America Spanish speaking market / South America Portuguese speaking market / Middle East Market,” he says. “We used to welcome many more students on Tourist Visa. However, many of the US Embassies around the world are still behind in processing new Tourist Visas and therefore students have no other choices but to apply for a student F1 Visa and register for more intensive courses.” While experiencing good enrolments rates from international students, Yves points out that visa problems are hampering further recovery. “The rate of US visa refusal in countries such as Turkey and Brazil has had an impact on our recruiting efforts,” he says.

Overall, language schools in the USA believe that things will continue to recover during the rest of 2024 and into 2025, despite difficulties on the world stage. Francine comments, “Despite numbers not reaching pre-Covid days, our 2023/2024 FY was one of our best in years! We hope 2025 surpasses 2024, but we remain cautiously optimistic due to world events and economies.”